Written for my card on Love Bingo's Round 3. Square: "Smitten".
7: Bruce & Tony
There were not many people in the world that Tony Stark actually noticed for their brilliance. Good looks, sure, but brains? That took a little bit more effort. However, it was more gratifying than staring down at a perfect pair of breasts or inching his fingers up a slender thigh.
Bruce Banner's brain, for instance, almost had Tony blushing like a virgin boy on his first date, full of expectations that probably wouldn't come true for another few years, but eager all the same. To put it mildly, it wasn't something that happened every day.
He may have subtly fan-boyed during their first meeting. He had played it cool, though, throughout their search for the Tesseract and the little heart-to-heart talk about their respective issues, and he liked to think it had paid off when the Hulk actually saved his life when he came crashing back down from the wormhole. That was the only positive thought Tony had about the whole ordeal, and focusing on that fact sometimes helped to stave off the impending panic attack that followed the use of the word 'wormhole'.
As subtle as Tony was about it, he couldn't contain all his joy when Bruce agreed to take a look at the promised Candy Land, then stayed. Tony took advantage of that fact, whenever he could – whether it was a crappy therapeutic session or just them talking science.
Or doing science; that was another level of awesome that Tony rarely got to experience. For once in his life, he didn't need the feel to drag his heels while working with another person. He didn't need to simplify things, and even if there were terms that Bruce wasn't familiar with, the other man caught on quickly when Tony explained things to him – without the need to use layman's terms, even once.
Tony was just a little smitten with Dr. Bruce Banner.
Also, Tony may have been more than 'just a little' in love with Bruce's brain, which was slightly embarrassing, but Tony could live with that. Even when he told Bruce just that – or rather, his brain:
"I love your cerebrum," Tony sighed after a particularly good creative outburst. Nothing had been blown up nor had they really done any groundbreaking work, but they had disproved several scientific theses and dissertations, which was a favorite past-time of Tony's when he was feeling cranky. Together with Bruce it felt like they were up to no good, like scheming school boys, but instead of pranks they focused on undermining a mutually disliked person's life's work – especially if that person happened to be an idiot in the first place, who was just begging to be proved wrong and taken down a notch.
Bruce gave him an amused look – one of many since the start of their relatively short friendship. "Thanks," he murmured and put away some of the tools they had been using.
"I really do love it," Tony insisted, although he knew better.
Bruce gave him an almost shy look over his shoulder. "Just my brain?"
"Don't get greedy," Tony grinned at him, but patted Bruce on the back as he passed the other man.
"It's the best part, really," Bruce seemed to suddenly agree with Tony's opinion.
"I would argue, but we really don't want Pepper to hear that conversation," Tony noted.
Bruce let out a laugh that wasn't actually nervous, or uncomfortable. The next time he passed by Tony, he curled his arm briefly around him, just a little, and it may or may not have been a half-aborted embrace.
Yeah, Tony was totally smitten with Bruce Banner, and not all of it had to do with his gorgeous brain – but the brain really, really helped.
to be continued…
